1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a cleaning apparatus for use in flushing cooling systems of automatic transmissions in automobiles. The cooling systems of automatic transmissions in automobiles can accumulate debris and varnished fluid deposits. This accumulated debris and varnished fluid deposits degrade the cooling performance of the transmission cooling system by reducing the desired heat transfer of the cooling system. Clogged or restricted transmission coolers can be a cause of recurring transmission failures. Restriction of cooler flow can cause overheating of the transmission fluid and reduce important lubrication to internal rotating pans. This in turn will limit the life of the automobile transmission since the transmission will have to operate at a higher temperature.
It is therefore the principle object of this invention to provide an automatic transmission cooler flushing device that is easy to use, inexpensive, portable and hand held thereby giving the operator control and flexibility in flushing an automobile transmission cooler. It is further contemplated to provide a flushing apparatus that can quickly and thoroughly clean the transmission cooler while determining whether there is blockage or debris within the transmission cooler. By providing a hand held, triggered pulsing flushing apparatus, the operator can manually pulse the trigger thereby flushing the transmission cooler with a pulsed fluid flow and being able to dislodge debris and varnish deposits. When the cleaning solvent within the flushing apparatus is forced out of the hand held flushing apparatus, the remainder of the fluid within the flushing apparatus becomes atomized with the high air pressure and provides a further atomized cleaning action thereby dislodging any additional stubborn debris. The atomization of the cleaning solvent occurs automatically after the cleaning solvent is forced out of the canister and through the transmission cooler.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are several different systems for cleaning automobile transmission coolers. These systems are fairly complicated and can be expensive. In addition, these systems are typically large and need to be moved around on a cart. These prior art devices also do not offer the flexibility to perform flow testing of the transmission cooler to determine if there is any blockage within the transmission cooler. Other devices also use more than one vessel or tank for flushing the system thereby making these devices less portable and more complicated to use.
Further, the prior art devices do not offer the flexibility of being able to manually pulse cleaning solvent through the transmission cooler. Debris and varnished fluid deposits can block fluid flow within the transmission cooler. Prior art devices will typically flush systems with a constant flow through the transmission cooler. Other prior art devices provide forcing only atomized solvent through the transmission cooler. Such constant fluid flow or atomized solvent will not always dislodge debris out of the transmission cooler. If it is found that the fluid flow through the transmission coils is blocked or retarded, the entire transmission cooler will need to be replaced.
These and other types of flushing devices disclosed in the prior art do not offer the flexibility and inventive features of my hand held portable transmission cooler flushing apparatus. As will be described in greater detail hereinafter, the hand held portable transmission cooler flushing apparatus of the present invention differs from those that previously existed.